M11x - palmrest stains and trackpad discoloration

When I first opened my M11x a couple weeks ago I noticed that there was a small grease-like stain on the left-hand side of the palm rest. Also, the track pad appeared worn or used (i.e., shiny in spots).

I called Dell and was sent a replacement (and a $140 credit for the trouble). I was feeling good.

Replacement arrives and it has the same stain and track pad issues. Not exactly in the same places as the first model, but identical nonetheless. There was also some discoloration in the palmrest running from right-to-left (like the plastic was bent slightly and turned white-ish).

Dell is taking it back and giving me a full refund (they couldn't credit me any more as it was down to $780 after a one-day sale, EPP, and the $140 credit - for max specs).

I would have requested another replacement but I can't risk it.

I'll post some pictures (this is a quibble or minor concern), it looked pretty used when I opened it both times and I can't spend that kind of money on a "boutique" item of that quality.

Has anyone seen this kind of thing?

 

When I received mine it was in perfect condition, i'd say you just got unlucky. It seems they put a refurbed trackpad/palmrest on it for you which I find very odd.

 

I don't have that stain at all on mine. However, I have a mark on the back of the LCD, the painted part, and it looks like someone put their thumb there before the paint dried. I'll post pics in a bit...


And you should take pics. It's kinda hard to get an idea of what you are talking about...

 

This is definitely not normal or acceptable - please post some pictures.

 

I'll post some images of both units tomorrow (have to pull them off my Blackberry).

 

I had the same thing when i got mine but the shiny spots weren't that noticeable, it was the the back Windows sticker and the intel cd2 looked worn out pretty bad. When i called dell the told me it was normal, so i just left it alone but it still bothers me the not even my two year old other laptop have the stickers worn out as much as my new m11x.

Another thing is my service tag # print under the fan. i recently had to call dell for some sound issues and the tag # is so faded away that i cant read it, customer service had to show me how to see my tag number under the BIOS.

 

I got the same problem in April 2011 - had to send a bunch of pictures (one of which I am attaching to this post, though at lower resolution) to Alienware. They are sending a replacement for palmrest but insisted on sending a technician to replace the part. Also, the person who handled my case over the phone helpfully indicated that if I upgraded my RAM from, e.g., 2GB to 8GB myself (or replaced the hard disk), the technician could use such observation to refuse replacing the palmrest because my action would have voided the warranty.

 

Haha you had the same one I had long time ago.
I hope it's not the same palm rest part I returned to Dell.

 

WOW, this is unacceptable quality control issue. How can they configure and ship that out w/o double checking it first. It's like selling a brand new customize shoe to a customer that has stains on it.